33 comments:

That game was ALL on the coaches. Terrible play calling. Who dressed RichRod up as Brady Hoke and let him in to coach the game??(And they honored Tressel for beating Michigan all those years? As I recall, all those games were voided because of cheating)

i have to say that the tsio crowd's reaction to the tressel being there is probably the best example of the differences between the two fan bases. i can't fathom it- the guy who lied, cheated, and got them put on probation (and banned from a bowl this year) not only is invited back, but gets carried around on the shoulders of his former players to wild enthusiastic cheers from the crowd? can you imagine steve fisher being invied to come back w/ the '89 NC team? no, neither can i. but here in cowtown they think it's just terrific.

anyway, the outcome was disappointing, but overall, the season went about as well can be expected. and next year looks a lot brighter than it did a few weeks go.

So, then, about the second half. Is it really cause for despair or did OSU adjust to us the way they have to their opponents all season? It kills me that we may have handed them the game but then there is a reason they are undefeated. I'm trying to focus on the positive and look forward to all the returning talent we get next year.

I wonder if there is a bit of Apples and Oranges with your comparison? I give you I am not thrilled with Tressel's deception, but the punishments did not negate the MNC. He did not cost the guys carrying him around their perfect season.

Yes, it cost this team from being considered, and who knows, that might be a blessing this year because we are a fortunate 12-0.

And personally I think Tressel should have declined the invitation to appear during the game, but clearly that is not the opinion many in the Horseshoe share with me.

Ramona, not sure what happened in the second half. Other than the obvious that we finally decided that if Denard was in at QB they were no threat to pass. Not sure why they went away from both Gardner and Robinson together. And why they kept trying to run it up the middle. Hats off to your defense which kept it close when you guys turned into a turnover machine.

I was disappointed we didn't put up more points with a short field. Credit to your D for that. Hyde seems to have caught that spooning motion from Denard.

The 89 NC banner is still there. The Fab 5 appearance banners were vacated. Also, the NCAA eventually exonorerated fisher of any personal wrong doing. So yeah, it is apples and oranges. Tressel is a convicted liar and cheat; fisher was just head coach while somebody else cheated.

Nobody asked me but, from my vantage point we had the ball with a chance to win the game in the last 4 minutes. Last year we finally won albeit against an unusually weak Ohio.

Did I love the O game plan? Nope. I did notice that it seemed from the beginning as if the stage was perhaps a little too big for DG today. Take a look at the time he had to throw and I am guessing you will be surprised how our O line was dominated while trying to pass protect.

DR was never a great passer, add in an injury layoff and as much as he says he could throw, I am not buying that he could have thrown effectively.

It doesn't really matter if you buy into my viewpoint. I really only *know* that having the ball with a chance to win with 4 minutes to go is preferable to losing 42 - 7, 21 - 10 at home with players and coaches fighting amongst each other on the sidelines, and 37 - 7.

I will also be okay with taking the same kids that managed to produce the 110th defense in the country and coaching them up so that they produced a top ten defense.

As for the fire Borges/Hoke is stupid crowd - wow. Just wow. He was brilliant at Iowa? Well there is a reason that Borges' offensive plan looked great at Iowa. It was against the Hawkeye defense.

The last time I heard so much complaining about a Michigan coach the collective cacophony rose to the level that a coach that was 19 -8 against top 10 competion, was one of the winningest coaches in college football and a hall of famer was driven to retire. I guess I don't need to remind anyone how his replacement worked out. Oh. Wait. Maybe. I. Do.

It is simple we turned the ball over 3 times and went 3 and out after recovering the ball in their territory.

I am sick of seeing Michigan lose to Ohio, I am tired of not being able to celebrate a BIG championship, but I love watching Michigan being competitive every week. I love that we have a coach at Michigan that is proud to be here and proud to run a quality program.

Couldn't agree with wingedhelmet more. The play callinhg in the secohnd half was uncreative to say the least but let's not lose sighnt of the bigger picture. This was a defence that couldn't stop anyone the last few years but did a great job in the second half of keeping them in the game. The offense will get better as borges brings in players to run his system with and I am sure that the o line will be addressed in the offseason. I want to win the big game just as much as anyone but I am not going to get too upset about losing a close game tha even with all the mistakes we made we still had a chance to win with 4 min left.

Don't misinterpret my disappoint expressed as humor as a call to fire anyone, especially Hoke. I think he's a great coach and the perfect fit for Michigan.

However, if players can get criticized for their mistakes, so too can coaches. And I think Borges' play calling in the 2nd half left much to be desired. And I think Hoke going for it on 4 & 2 1/2 at our 48 to start the second half - and wasting a TO - was a big mistake.

But big picture, I think we're heading in the right direction with a great staff.

Oh man, these losses kill me. I knew as soon as I posted there was a chance it might look/sound *personal*. I spent way too much time out of Fort Schembechler yesterday listening to nostalgic lamentations of a return to a more - let me see if I can delicately phrase this - Grobanesque time.

4th and 3 without a stud downhill runner, when failure flips the field at best and allows the opponent momentum and a scoring chance at worst; agreed very bad call.

As for Borges calls, I am a "take what they give you" guy, so I think we needed some duck and chuck 6 and 7 yd TE and slot throws. Without them or something like them Ohio got to tee off and play downhill all 2nd half.

Hey look I never meant to question where you are on Hoke etc; I agree that coaches are and should be subject to earned criticism and I think yesterday Hoke earned some. I just chose to use a familiar forum to make a point to a larger audience.

Based on your history and heck with a name like Yost I never wonder about your level of support.

Sorry if it sounded like I was calling you out. That was unintended. Now for the guy wishing for a Josh Groban sing along - him I am calling out.

The thing is while we didn't capitalize on your mistakes and kept it closer; had you not made those mistakes, you could very well have had a comfortable lead.

I was happy to see over at MGOBLOG that most reported having a good experience during their trip down here, with the exception of the final score of the game. I even saw one post where the Michigan fan was depressed we weren't nasty to him. Though, as I am sure Phil or SiC would point out, if I didn't, that might not have been the case had the scored been flipped.

Lou Holtz said it best, "There are some coaches that just know how to win and it usually shows up in the third season when you can tell if the players have bought into the system."

I'd hold out any judgement of Hoke until that time which is coming soon but in the case of Brian Kelly who was central to the above disscussion with Holtz it was obvious for anyone following his career at Central Michigan then Cincy, the man's intensity was a force headed to that elite group of college coaches in todays game. If you want to win the big games in college football you have to find that type of coach or forget it. Michigan has a great collection of coaches, time will tell soon if it can jell and propel them to the next level.

You can be certain ND had their eye on Kelly before UM, even if Kelly was coaching under their noses. Meyer was once coaching under OSU's noses too, they just got lucky stumbling into landing Meyer, it was more like Urban wanting the job than OSU seeking him out. OSU had a history of choosing poor coaches (Tressel was in over his head and it finally caught up with him). Hoke probably just lost againt the worst Buckeye team he'll ever face with Meyer there now, a worry all Wolverine fans know.

Under the current rules no conference can have more than two teams in BCS games including the MNC game. Right now the winner of Alabama vs Georgia will play ND in the MNC game. The loser will likely drop a bit in the BCS standings. There is also a rule in place that if a team is #4 or higher and they are not a conference champion, they have to be taken by a BCS bowl, so most likely Florida, who is already 4 wil either move up to 3 or not move down. They will get the other SEC BCS slot and since the Sugar lost the SEC champ, they will pick first and take Florida.

Over to the B1G/PAC12 for a moment. If Nebraska wins they go to the Rose to play the winner of UCLA vs. Stanford. Oregon, curently #5 may end up as #4 and would also be an Automatic pick by a BCS bowl game. If Wisconsin wins, Nebraska won't get an at large bid because after the conference champions, there are only 3 slots available. Oregon and Florida have to be taken so there is only one slot. You have to take a team in the BCS top 14 and Nebraska would likely fall out of the top 14 and whoeve has the last pick will probably take Oklahoma.

So we are done with the BCS portion, now we get to the non-BCS bowls.

From the SEC, the loser of Georgia vs Alabama is likely the first pick for non-BCS games. The SEC has tie-ins by Division for some bowl games, but the bowls can select outside the Division. However the first non-BCS SEC tie in bowl is the Capitol One which can pick whoever it wants from the SEC.

Now from the B1G side, the Capitol One rule is CAPITAL ONE BOWL1. May select any eligible team after Rose Bowl Game/BCS except a team that has two fewer wins or two more losses (in all games) than another eligible team. So if Wisconsin wins the B1G CCG, then Nebraska goes to Captiol One because they have two more wins than Michigan. If Nebraska wins, the Capitol One could pick from NW or Michigan. As I understand the 2 win/2 loss rule, Wisconsin would not qualify. remember, it is not the second best team that goes to the bowl, it is the bowl that gets to pick second (as long as the teams meet that 2 win/loss rule.)

Ted Bundy, I'm not so sure this is really going to be Meyer's worst team at Ohio. He didn't recruit all that well (relatively speaking) at Florida and his last team there was mediocre. Time will tell what happens in Columbus.

No, your post was an excellent recap, Dennis. There are no more questions really to be answered excepting of the truly esoteric variety. UM or N'western? What? And against a strong SEC team? Wha? My confusion really stems from forever being stuck in the days when it was MI or OSU to win the big 10 and get to the Rose Bowl to play a Pac 10 team.

Ted & James both hit on a topic that hasn't been considered enough (IMO). Saturday's game may not be reflective of either coaches' future. very few players on either team were recruited by either coach. i'm not sure you can say either teams' performance- Saturday or over the whole season- is indicative of what either coach will be doing in another 2 years.

which raises a question- which coaching job this season is more impressive? Meyer, coming in & taking over a roster which is made up of Tressel's recruits (3 top 5 ranked classes & 1 top 20) and winning 12 games against their schedule? or Hoke coming in and winning 19 games in the last 2 seasons w/ R2's recruits (which consisted of players from 1 top 10 ranked class, 2 classes ranked in the teens, and one ranked in the 20s)?

in their own way, both performances are impressive, but not necessarily indicative of the future. i think we're still several years away from seeing the final results.

If I was a bowl official I would be living the easy life, living off swag and working like three days a year.

Sorry, got off topic, if i was a bowl official and my choices were Northwestern and Michigan I woul dpick Michigan. You travel much better. Yeah it was a bit of a down year but as countless folks have point out your losses are to three of the best teams in the country and Nebraska who is no slouch and the main you lost that was due to injury and poor planning on your coaching staff. The only way I would hesitate about taking Michigan is if I knew the SEC team was going to be Alabama. If the game had been close and/or your seasons comparable, I might go for the rematch, but as it stands, I don't know how it would draw. Not sure NW would be better, though.

SiC,

I completely agree. And that was a knock on Tressel, that he won his MNC with Cooper's players. That is often the case here, we had several other coaches win MNCs in their second year here. Woody was a bit slow, he took four years but had inherited a bit of a mess.

I think the next couple Games could be interesting, especially if Gardner gets the redshirt and Braxton doesn't leave early. Especially your next visit down here. Sr. QB, with Hoke's guys on the line with a couple years experience. You hopefully will have a running back to help share the load. Sr. QB on our side with the skill guys Meyer wants that are sophmores and some juniors, since some are Tressel/Fickell guys.

That can't be difficult Yost..Other than Dennis, who is inexplicably highly evolved and civilized, are there many OSU fans NOT in trouble with the law? Remember the pic of Casey Anthony in the OSU jersey?

I worked closely for 4 years with a guy who grew up in Ann Arbor while living in DC. I also worked with other B1G alums, though not as closely as John.

John is the one who showed me the old MZone after I kept sharing old OZone stuff like the Opposing QB club, etc. It wasn't until the talk about tinkering with The Game that I started posting regularly. That and I was looking for dining recommendations when in Ann Arbor for meets.

I have seriously said this elsewhere, I think leaving Central Ohio for 8 years, and moving outside of the B1G footprint did help my growth as a fan and make me more accepting of other B1G fans than some of my Buckeye Bretheren. I was also exposed to the SEC concept of conference unity.

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